The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1887-09-10
A Monster Evil and a Remedy.

Mr. Edt0r:-My friend "Bob" Crouch
has been obliged to torego his purpose of
erecting large. sale and exchange stable.
Notwithstanding the many unused ana
vacant lots within the limits OF this town.
he has been unable to obtain one for his
purpose without submitting to an excess
sive black for the use of Il piece of
ground, which the owner did not desire
to himself use, and in addition to obligate
himself to remove the stable, whenever
he (the owner), should find some one
upon whom he could levy more black
mail for its use than he could obtain
from my frie id Crouch.
With your permission | desire for the
benefit of your readers, to make this a
text for a short sermon on political econ
Omy. 1t will be seen by the above that
what needlessly hampers and clogs en-
terprlse in this7a al! other communities
is the power which one person possesses
through a monopoly of land to levy tax
upon another person for its use, or to
withhold it from use at his will and plea
sure. lJ is also manifest that the with
holding land from use prevents the exer-
else of labor, and the divorcing of labor
from land, on which and from which
alone the laborer can live, VIII ca the prime
cause of the poverty, want and crime,
aud is the curse of our civilization. There
is another evil apparent here, and that is
the existence of the power belonging to
the landowner, to compel the land user
10 yield up to him portion of the fruits
of his industry for the privilege of max
ing use Of one of the elements necessary
to sustain life. | say Ito compel for
man is land animal and cannot live
without the use of it in some fashion,
and having no land. he must live upon
another $ land upon that others terms and
those terms are chat he must consent to
be rob"ei OF portion of the fruits of his
labor, in order that he may exist upon
the other portion. These are but few
of the evils to be dednced from this text,
but they are sufficient for this article and
my purpose.
Can any one tell me why these powers
should be vested i'll individuals in re-
public of free and equal men? One can
see that they are necessary to the crea
ton OF a privileged class aud the erection
of despotlsms, but they are at war with
the forms and the spirit of liberty, and
they cannot continue to exist side by
side, one or the other must perish. This
Is not surmiSe it is the lesson of history,
iIalIam tells US the Roman Republic
died from this very cause. Can any one
tell me why these powers should be con
tlnued to the injury of the community
ara the eventual destruction of free gov
eminent when they can be SO easily re-
vokcd? All that is necesS!ry Is to levy
a tax upon unused land, or land held for
speculative purposes equal to the rent
asked by the owner for its use he will
then be compelled to use it, or permit
some one else to use it, and the gifts OF
the creator to his children will be made
available to all. My friend Bob" can
then build his stable upon the particular
bit of earth he desires TO use for that
purpose and buy aud sell horses at his
own Will and pleasure.
Land is the storehouse and granafy of
nature from which labor alone can ex-
tract wealth. The prosperity of COM
munity depends not only upon the
amount thus extracted, but upon liberty
Of access to this mine of WI alth Any law
custom, or agreement that tie do | 30 pre-
vent the free access of labor to land,
would be hostile to the very existence of
the community; and yet the fact remains
that communities -ithout exception have
given their solemn sanction to the with
drawal OF land necessary to their growth
and maintenance from use by iudIvi
duals, associations and corporations, and
in addition have authorized these indivi-
duals, associations and corporations to
levy tax tor their private benefit upon
those W hose necessities compel them to
its use. This custom derived from old
world despotisms, like any other evil Gus
toms long continued, has dulled the
moral perceptions of our people to re-
aliZe this, let them imagine the same
sanction zen to individuals to partition
the wa 5 of Chesapeake Bay between
item. Every vessel owner would then be
compelled to buy the privilege of sailing
across these private wat rs don you
see that the water owner would b levy
ing tax upon the vessel owner, TO do.
ing something which the vessel owner
could do just as WILL without paying the
tax? Aud don't you see that any tax SO
imposed, returned no compromising bene
lit to the payer, and that it woul! be
simply black mail? Now apply the same
test to the methods of the land grabber
and Spectator and tell me the moral diff
ference between them.
Elkton is spotted with vacant lots held
vacant for purposes of speculation i'm
mediately around it. the lands have been
withdrawn from cultivation and held at
speculative prices. This constitutes Il
monopoly. All mo lopolies sink into in
significance alongside of monopoly of
land. \ monol o'y in things produced by
labor cannot long exist, because labor
will Immediately 60 to work and produce
them i'll such quantity that they cease to
be a monopoly, but labor cannot produce
laid, nor move it from where it is cheap
to where it is dear, and SO the land grab
Der and speculator is permitted to ask
monopoly prices for the use of natural
opportunities The Gully way to get rid
OF a monopoly of this kind is to tax 1t out
of existence. Make the monopolists pay
for the injury done to society by with
holding land from use Make it Just as
expensive to keep land out of use as to
uS8 it. Ard how shall this be done2 By
imposing taxes upon unuse I'd land equal
to the rent asked for that which is i'll use
contiguous to it. Land grabbers would
thea be forced to part with all land they
did not use. If this tax were univerS Il,
the evils arising from monopoly by the
few of the means of existence OF all,
making themselves apparent in degrad
ing poverty, from which flows intemper-
auce, vice and crime would disappear
from society. If the tax were local to
Elkton it would bring to us prosperity
and progress hitherto unknown in this